Making Change: What Works? Lessons from four successful movements

November 23, 2021
Making Change: What Works? is a smart new report from IPPR and the Runnymede Trust, drawing lessons from some of the most effective campaigns of recent years. Although it is UK focussed, there’s lots to chew on for activists everywhere. Here’s the exec sum, which mercifully, didn’t even need an edit. Movements change the world. Throughout history, loosely organised networks
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Featured image for “Do you want to get serious about the Care Economy? If so, read this (and if not, why not?)”

Do you want to get serious about the Care Economy? If so, read this (and if not, why not?)

October 27, 2021
Amber Parkes, Anam Parvez Butt, Marion Sharples and Vivian Schwarz-Blum talks us through an important new advocacy tool – the Care Policy Scorecard Everything gets a rating these days: apps, hotels, Uber journeys. And everyone wants that five-star rating. But what about government policies that affect people’s lives? What if we could rate them too, according to how impactful and
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Featured image for “Women, Voice and Power, Oxfam’s new paper on ‘transformative feminist leadership’ + a minor beef on adjectives”

Women, Voice and Power, Oxfam’s new paper on ‘transformative feminist leadership’ + a minor beef on adjectives

October 12, 2021
Women, Voice and Power, Oxfam’s new paper on ‘transformative feminist leadership’ exemplifies why I love working for NGOs, but also why it can get a bit irksome, especially if you’re a wordsmith. Let’s start with the good stuff. The 7 page Exec Sum (the full report weighs in at 45 pages) is stuffed full with great literature summaries, case studies,
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Featured image for “Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: 5 Takeaways from Researchers and Practitioners”

Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: 5 Takeaways from Researchers and Practitioners

August 12, 2021
Got a gap on the blog today, so thought I’d repost this excellent piece from CGD, by Mayra Buvinic and Megan O’Donnell The rhetoric around women’s economic empowerment (WEE) in global development is finally being translated into action. Development organizations are using this objective to guide operations and exploring ways to measure impact by integrating WEE indicators into project results frameworks. But
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Why Oxfam is talking about race

July 28, 2021
Guest post by Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah, Chief Executive, Oxfam GB In the past few weeks Oxfam’s work on anti-racism has attracted some criticism. Various commentators have characterised it as “woke posturing” or “anti-white.”   I think they have got it wrong. Let me explain why tackling racism is an integral part of Oxfam’s mission.   It is almost 80 years since a small group of volunteers,
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What’s blocking progress in fixing the Global Water Crisis?

July 27, 2021
I took part in a fun podcast recently on ‘water for development’. I was in the company of some people who actually know about the subject (Michael Wilson, Rosie Wheen, Melita Grant and Rachel Mason Nunn). I was playing my favourite role in this final wrap-up conversation of a series of discussions, that of informed ignoramus burbling on about how
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Featured image for “Micro, bottom-up research can shed new light on power and politics in fragile places, but it’s REALLY difficult!”

Micro, bottom-up research can shed new light on power and politics in fragile places, but it’s REALLY difficult!

July 22, 2021
Another intense couple of days hearing back from the 30 or so researchers in the Action for Empowerment and Accountability research consortium, as it approaches the end of its programme. I was returning after a couple of years’ absence (I did some work on adaptive management in an earlier phase) and it was great to hear where people had got
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Featured image for “Not All in This Together: How Covid has driven up inequality in Supermarket Supply Chains”

Not All in This Together: How Covid has driven up inequality in Supermarket Supply Chains

July 20, 2021
I was speaking on a UN panel on Decent Work last week, so thought I’d better catch up with the latest Oxfam report, Not in This Together, written by Anouk Franck and Art Prapha. It provides a great case study of Covid as an ‘engine of inequality’ (and of how to write a research-based advocacy report – killer facts galore,
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Featured image for “Mission-critical: investing in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green recovery”

Mission-critical: investing in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green recovery

July 8, 2021
WaterAid’s Tseguereda Abraham, Hossain Ishrath Adib and John Garrett introduce its new report. Why invest in water, sanitation and hygiene? Most schoolchildren would need only a few seconds to find an answer. Of course, water and sanitation are human rights, and hygiene has a vital role in preventing infectious disease, as COVID-19 has highlighted all too clearly. So why is
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Featured image for “How has Covid affected Fathers and Gender Equality? What’s Next?”

How has Covid affected Fathers and Gender Equality? What’s Next?

June 18, 2021
Nikki van der Gaag reflects on the state of dad-dom ahead of fathers’ day on Sunday. She is a co-author of this year’s State of the World’s Fathers report One thing is certain in these uncertain times. Being a father has changed. I have never seen so many dads out with their children as I did when I walked in
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Featured image for “How research into sexual wronging changed the course of the landmark trial at the ICC”

How research into sexual wronging changed the course of the landmark trial at the ICC

June 3, 2021
Next up in my series of interviews on the real-world influence of researchers at the LSE Centre for Public Authority and International Development, I explore the impact of Holly Porter’s research in northern Uganda, which has had a significant impact on a landmark trial and conviction of LRA commander Dominic Ongwen at the International Criminal Court, setting broader precedents for the
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Featured image for “Why is internal advocacy within our own organizations so hard?”

Why is internal advocacy within our own organizations so hard?

April 27, 2021
I’ve been chatting to a few people about their efforts to change how their organizations think, work and behave. By ‘people’ I mean the foot soldiers, not the bosses – there’s a huge amount written for managers about how to change their organizations, but what if you’re not a boss? For a subject that is so important to a lot
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